<p>how good are the math/physics departments at cornell?
are these classes very large?</p>
<p>Cornell has a very strong physics department
Feynman was at Cornell and he started his nobel prize-winning project here
Physics classes are pretty small, around 30 (this is for honors physics classes btw)</p>
<p>If you are fairly advanced in math and physics, look at the honors courses: freshman can take Math 223-224, and start the Physics sequence 116-217-218. These are challenging courses; however, if they are too difficult there is also a standard sequence. When my son took the honors classes, they generally began at mid-size (honors Physics was two lab sections) and reduced to small by the end. I think the 224 class ended with fewer than 20 students.</p>
<p>Spend time on the departments' web pages; look at the the required sequences and the optional courses. Then follow the links to individual course web pages and you can see the actual scope of assignments. If you have a more specific question, please post again.</p>